Again
by age4age4
Summary: After David finds out that his wife of three years has been cheating on him with another woman, he spirals through a bout of depression; causing his friends to think theirs only one person who can get him out of it. DavidVal
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

Disclaimer: None of the major characters are mine.

* * *

August 29, 2003

"What's one characteristic that you have that would make you a model employee for the After Dark?"

After rereading the question in front of him over again for the fourth time in the last ten minutes, David sighed slightly to himself before inwardly replying: _If I would've known this was going to be a personality test, I would've studied for it weeks ago before deciding to fill out this application._

With that thought in mind, after thinking about it for a couple more seconds, David jotted down the first thing he could think of. "Whether it be day or night, everyone in my family knows that anytime they need someone or something, they can always call on me and I'll be there as soon as I can. So, I'd have to say that reliability is one of my stronger character traits."

Figuring that was a good enough answer for him, David made a move to go onto the next question. But just before he could do so, the sound of the front door opening caused him to immediately stop and look up at the person who was now walking into the living room with a small grin on her face. "Hey you."

"Hey, yourself." Donna responded back, before making her way over to where her husband of three years sat; giving him a small kiss on the lips as soon as she reached him. "I'm glad you're home...I've got some good news for you."

Noticing the look of pure excitement on his wife's face caused David to know already what Donna was going to tell him. But instead of telling her that, he chose to just play along. "Oh really...how good?"

While taking a seat beside David, Donna cheerfully retorted: "Very good...I got the job!" A statement which caused David to finally unleash the proud grin, that so wanted to come across his face, and pull the blonde in front of him into a small hug. "Congratulations, baby. I knew you could do it."

"With you by my side, I can do anything."

* * *

September 3, 2003 (Five days later)

After quietly shutting the front door and sitting his keys down on the table beside him, David quickly made his way towards the living room; where he guessed--from the red BMW parked outside, next to Donna's blue Sedan--he'd find Steve seated there waiting for him. But instead of the older man, he found someone a little bit shorter and a lot more feminine than his best friend, seated next to his wife on the couch, giggling about something which he couldn't hear from where he was standing.

"Hey..."

Looking up at the greeting, Donna smiled slightly when she saw David leaning against the archway of the room. "Hey you. It's about time you got here...I want to introduce you to someone."

Taking the comment as a sign to move foreword, David crossed the room in two strides and held out a hand to shake the other woman's palm as Donna introduced the two of them to each other.

"Tammy, this is my husband David....David, this is Tammy Springs. She's one of the supervisors at Pol' Atteu, who thankfully enough has decided to take pity on me and show me the ropes of the company before I get a chance to embarrass myself."

While frowning slightly at the comment, David opened his mouth to tell Donna not to say things like that about herself. But before he could even get the first word pass his tongue, Tammy cut in with: "Please don't listen to a thing your wife says. After spending two days watching her practically charm the pants off everyone, including Pol' Atteu himself, I can honestly say that she'll probably be taking my job at the store in about a week or two."

"Whatever! You know that's not true." Donna argued, before Tammy and her quickly got into a playful banter revolving around Donna's work ethics. An action which caused David to feel like he was quickly becoming the third wheel in his own home. _Two's company...three's a crowd._

With that thought in mind, he waited until the two had finished laughing at something Tammy had said before making up a lie; which would politely excuse him from the room. "I promised Steve that I'd meet him at his house in a half-n-hour, so I should probably go get changed.....but it was nice meeting you, Tammy."

"You as well, David." The older woman replied, before absentmindedly watching on as the man in front of her turned away from the two women and quickly made his way up the stairs; towards Donna and his room. Afterwards, she turned her attention back towards Donna and carefully raised an arched eyebrow before jokingly asking: "So now that Papa Bear has finally left the room, what do you say we get back to working on this porridge?"

"Right after you, Goldie-locks!"

* * *

November 1, 2003

"Honey, I'm home!"

After reluctantly opening his eyes to look at the bedroom clock on his night stand, David inwardly grimaced as he noticed that it was going on three o'clock in the morning.

_Here we go again!_ He inwardly commented to himself as he slightly sat up on the bed and absentmindedly watched on as Donna drunkenly staggered across the room, towards her side of the bed; interestingly enough not hitting anything in the process.

_Well, she's had enough practice now not to._

It had been like this for almost two months now. Donna and Tammy would spend all week working together on some huge assignment at Pol' Atteu. And then Friday night, they would head off to one of the local bars near Tammy's house to celebrate a job well done. Afterwards, Donna would either end up crashing at Tammy's after drinking a little bit too much or she'd leave her car at the bar and take a cab to there house; where she'd spend the next half-n-hour drunkenly mumbling to herself before falling fast asleep with her work clothes still on.

It was becoming like a routine around the Silver house...a routine that David had quickly grown tired of a few weeks into it.

"When are you going to learn that two drinks is your limit?"

"When you learn to stop trying to be the boss of me." Donna quickly retorted back, with a slightly annoyed expression on her face. "I can handle myself, ya know. I don't need you to be my father....remember, I don't have one of those anymore."

Usually David would try and tell Donna not to say things like that--knowing comments like those could lead to bouts of depression. But given the fact that Donna was already three sheets to the wind, he figured if he told her that statement now, she probably wouldn't even remember it two seconds later.

"Let me help you get into bed."

"I told you before: I don't need your--" Donna began, but before she could continue her comment, her eyes immediately popped open and David could only wince slightly as he watched the woman in front of him quickly make her way towards the bathroom; hopefully getting whatever it was--that she had to drink--out of her system and into the toilet bowl in front of her, instead of all over the floor like she had done last time.

_Something tells me this is going to be one very long night._

* * *

November 15, 2003

Two weeks after he spent the entire night cleaning up Donna's vomit off the bathroom carpet, David found himself in complete surprise as he woke up in the middle of the night to find his wife entering the door to there room, sober as can be.

_Must be a full moon...this is the first Friday in weeks that she's been like this._

Unfortunately because of the fact that she was on her cellphone, he couldn't say that comment out loud.

"Hold on, I'm entering my room right now." Donna softly said into the phone, before looking towards the bed--where David was laying--trying to see, in the dark, if her husband's eyes were open or not. "I think he's asleep.......yeah, I wish he was up so I could tell him right now, as well. But I think it'd be best if I waited until the right time. I mean, I don't think this is something you should tell a person in the middle of the night....I'll just tell him when he gets home from the gym tomorrow, okay?"

While furrowing his eyebrows at the statement, David silently watched on as Donna continued talking to the miscellaneous person on the other line of the phone about him, as if he wasn't two feet in front of her.

As if reading his thoughts, Donna gave David one last look before taking her phone and disappearing into the bathroom that was adjoined with their room.

After waiting until the door closed behind her, David sat up slightly and asked himself:

_What the hell was that all about?_

* * *

November 16, 2003

After spending the night before up until around four o'clock in the morning, wondering what it was that Donna was keeping from him, David decided to skip his usual workout at the gym and instead meet up with Steve and Dylan for breakfast.

"Okay. So, I'm guessing from the expression on your face that this meeting at McDonald's wasn't just for fun. So, spill it already!"

"Yeah.." Steve agreed, around a mouthful of bacon. "Come on and tell us what's wrong."

After rolling his eyes slightly at the man in front of him, who looked like he needed a bib more than his daughter did, David began to tell the two men--who he called his best friends--about the phone conversation he had heard the night before and about the talk he and Donna were going to have when he got home from the _gym_.

"I don't know if I should be more worried over the fact that she's intentionally keeping this secret from me or more worried over the fact that this might mean that she's met some random guy and has decided to leave me for him. I'm confused as hell."

Not believing for a second that David could think that Donna would ever leave him for another guy caused Steve to roll his eyes dramatically before replying: "Silver, everyone knows that there is no better guy out there for Donna than you and that she loves you more than she loves herself. Snap out of it, you two were made for one another."

_I guess.._ David inwardly replied, before outwardly asking the question he was dying to know: "But if it's not another guy that she's seeing, then what else could be so bad that she has to wait for the _right time_ to tell me?"

After a second of thinking about the question, Dylan spoke up, with a grin on his face: "Maybe she's following in Janet's footsteps and you two will soon be hearing the sounds of tiny footsteps in the future."

_I never thought of that._ David inwardly commented to himself, before slightly smiling as all of the missing pieces in the puzzle began to fit together. _It all makes sense now...she's pregnant. That's why she wasn't drunk when she came home last night and that's why she needed to wait for the right time to tell me her secret._

Not wanting for her to have to wait any longer, David quickly stood up from his chair and quickly threw a couple of tens down on the table in front of him. Afterwards, he hurriedly made his way out of the restaurant; throwing over his shoulder, as an afterthought: "You two have just made my day...breakfast is on me."

After looking down at the two ten-dollar bills that David had left on the table, Steve and Dylan got large grins on their faces as they both simultaneously replied: "Super-size!"

* * *

After practically breaking almost every speeding law that was in California, David arrived back at his house exactly ten minutes after saying good-bye to the guys at McDonald's.

I'm just lucky that there weren't any cops out this morning or I defiantly would've had one hell of a ticket to pay.

With that thought in mind, David quickly parked his car at the foot of the driveway and then, just as quickly, made his way towards the front door of his house. As he was passing the two cars that were stationed side by side one another in the driveway, he couldn't help but wonder why Tammy's car was there. But just as the question entered his head, he couldn't help but smile slightly as an answer to it quickly formed. "She's probably just here for moral support."

With that being his last thought, David quickly opened the door to his house and then--as if to let the two women know he was back--he somewhat slammed it shut. "Donna?"

"In here!"

Having already guessed where she was, David followed the sound of her voice towards the living room; finding his wife seated on the couch next to a casual looking Tammy.

_Hmm..this is the first time I've ever seen her in anything less than a business suit...she almost looks normal._

"How was your workout?"

After snapping himself out of his thoughts at that question, David truthfully replied: "I didn't go...Dylan, Steve, and I instead met up at McDonald's for breakfast."

Usually Donna would respond back to that comment with a sarcastic retort like, "Sounds healthy." But instead of her saying that, David was surprised when she just slightly smiled before outwardly replying: "David..I think we need to talk."

_Here we go._ David inwardly told himself, before taking a seat on the love-chair across from Donna and Tammy; showing the two of them that they had his undivided attention. "Okay, go ahead..I'm listening."

"Forthelastcoupleofmonths,I'vebeen--" Donna quickly began, but before she could continue, Tammy took her hand in hers; silently telling her to calm down. After slightly nodding, Donna started back where she had first began: "For the last couple of months, I've been lying to you....I've been lying to your face and keeping a huge secret from you. One that you'll probably hate me for and one you'll probably never look at me the same because of."

_I knew it._

As if he had just been kicked in the gut, David could hardly breathe as he outwardly replied: "Theirs someone else....you met some other guy."

"No..." Donna quickly replied, while small tears started to form in her eyes. "I haven't met another _guy_."

"Then what is it..?" David wanted to ask, but before he could do so, a thought popped into his head. _She said she didn't meet another **guy**...she didn't say anything about meeting someone else._

With that thought in mind, David quickly looked down at Donna and Tammy's interlocked hands before looking back up at them with a confused expression on his face and hesitantly replying: "You two...?"

Not wanting to lie anymore, Donna filled in the blanks: "Are in love...and I'm divorcing you."

* * *

Next part soon


	2. Chapter one: Welcome back

**CHAPTER ONE**

Authors Note: This chapter takes place 2 months after the prologue.

* * *

January 2, 2004 (Buffalo)

After spending the majority of her morning at the doctor's office going over the results of her last blood test, Valerie couldn't help but inwardly smile to herself when she got back to her apartment around noon and saw a bottle of unopened strawberry bubble bath waiting for her by the tub.

_That's just what the doctor ordered...I'll have to remind myself to thank Angie the next time I see her._

Unfortunately before the brunette could even think about turning on the water to the tub, the sound of her cellphone going off in the next room caused her to let out a small groan before reluctantly making her way towards where the small device laid on her bed, vibrating.

"Hello?"

"Well, look who finally got around to answering her phone...I thought you might've fallen off the face of the planet for a second."

_What the..?_

After taking a second to figure out who was on the other line, Valerie couldn't help but smile when she realized exactly who it was. _Steve._

"Sorry. I've been meaning to call you and Janet back but I've been really busy lately trying to get a few things settled down around here...how have you been?"

"Can't really complain....although, I didn't get much sleep last night since my four year old daughter decided to wake me up around three o'clock this morning with the chicken-pocks."

Remembering the slight discomfort that the chicken pox had caused her as a child, Valerie outwardly responded back with "Ouch, that's got to suck" before asking how everyone else was doing.

"Everyone here is doing as good as can be....Janet just started taking Lamaze classes a couple of days ago so she's been keeping herself busy lately by breathing all over the furniture. While Kelly and Dylan have been keeping themselves busy by practically torturing the hell out of me with their make out sessions--which I know their doing on purpose since they laugh every time I tell them that there making me sick."

After slightly laughing at Steve's comment, Valerie couldn't help but playfully roll her eyes when the image of Dylan and Kelly practically joined at the lip--during their wedding reception, two years ago--popped into her head. _I guess some things never change._

With that thought in mind, after noticing that Steve didn't finish the rest of his biweekly wrap-up, Valerie outwardly asked: "And how's David?"

A question she wished, a second later, that she had never asked after hearing Steve's answer:

"That's-uh-actually what I was calling you about....his divorce became final today."

_Double Ouch._

It had been almost a month and a half since Steve had told Valerie that Donna had left David. And even though she hadn't had the time to pick up the phone and call her ex-boyfriend yet, she knew from Steve's biweekly phone calls that the end of his three year marriage to his high-school sweetheart was causing David to become more than slightly depressed. "How's he holding up?"

Their was a brief pause on the other line before Steve reluctantly replied: "Under the circumstances, I think he's doing better than he could be doing....he's even getting back into the swing of things by performing once again at the After Dark on the weekends."

"That's great.." Valerie cheerfully replied. "I'll have to see about taking some time off from work and heading out to California to see him in action. It's been awhile."

At the sigh of relief that was heard over the phone, Valerie quickly got the feeling that she had just accidentally stepped into one of Steve's traps.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

Figuring she better make herself as comfortable as possible for whatever Steve was about to rope her into, Valerie slowly took a seat on the king-sized bed in the middle of the room and then reluctantly asked: "Okay, I'm probably going to regret asking you this later. But why were you hoping I'd say that?"

Having known that Valerie had grown to know him pretty damn well over the last couple of years caused Steve to chuckle slightly to himself before saying: "I'm not about to ask you for your kidney or anything, so calm down over there. I was just hoping that you'd be up to visiting California some time in the near future 'cause David's going back to the After Dark this Sunday night and I think it'd be nice if you were there with us to support him."

Even though Valerie hadn't been lying when she said that she would try and get some time off to go to California soon, a few things were stopping her from telling Steve that she would be there this weekend for David's gig. One important thing being the fact that Sunday was only three days away and--with her recent increasing medical bills--she was sure that she wouldn't be able to afford a ticket to California this close to the date she'd be flying out.

So, with that thought in mind, she quickly began to protest: "Steve, I would love to be there for David this weekend, but I can't. I already took half of this week off--"

"Which means you probably wont have any problem taking half of next week off, either." Steve interrupted her, before she could finish her statement. "Come on, Valerie...! We haven't seen you for almost a year and I know that this would mean a lot to David if you could come.....hell, he's been there for you thousands of time, so I would've thought that you--more than the rest of us--would want to be the first in line to be there for him, right now....I guess I thought wrong."

Knowing that her friend was trying to guilt-trip her into going caused Valerie to frown slightly. Steve was never one to play fair.

With that thought in mind, she mentally made a list of coworkers who could cover for her for the next couple of days before outwardly saying: "All right, I'll come this weekend. But only on two conditions...the first one being that you pay half of my ticket and the next one being that you let me stay at your house for the entire time that I'm there. That way you'll have _your_ way and I'll be there for David's thing and I'll have _my_ way and get to spoil Madeline for a whole five days."

Even though she knew that Steve wasn't too fond of the idea of her spoiling his daughter, Valerie wasn't that surprised when the older man agreed to all her terms without putting up so much as a fight. "You've got it, Malone...and since it took me less time than I thought to persuade you into coming, I'll do you one better and pay for your entire flight out here. No ifs, and's, or buts about it.

_That doesn't sound like the Steve I know._

After taking a second to get over her confusion, Valerie smiled slightly to herself before quickly replying: "Okay, but just remember when you're paying for it: that I'm just staying until Wednesday and _also_ that I'm still going to be staying at your house and spoiling Maddy day in and day out."

"Damn!" Steve grumbled; knowing that his plan had been foiled. "Can't blame me for trying.."

"Yes, I can." Valerie playfully joked, before noticing that the time on her bedroom stand was telling her that it was time to take her medicine. "But anyway, so that it wont cost you that much: I'll let you go now so you can go and find me a ticket and I can go take a shower...talk to you later?"

After a second of continuing to playfully grumble about his daughter turning into a spoiled princess, Steve reluctantly replied: "All right...I'll call you back later tonight with all of the information."

"Thanks Steve...talk to you later."

"Not if I talk to you first."

* * *

Jan 5, 2004 (Los Angeles International Airport)

Unfortunately because of the fact that they had waited until the last minute to look for flights, Steve wasn't able to get Valerie a ticket out to California until the day of David's gig; which Valerie figured he would try and do since he was still worried that she might be trying to spoil his daughter.

_He can be such an overprotective father sometimes...he never lets me have **any** fun._ Valerie half-jokingly thought to herself, before making her way towards baggage-claim; where she told Steve she'd meet him once she stepped off the plane.

As soon as she got to the spot, where they were supposed to meet, it wasn't hard spotting the 5'10 man. Mostly because of the fact that he was standing off towards the side of the baggage claim--so nobody would run into him while trying to get their bags--and kept moving his head from side to side; trying to spot Valerie before she could spot him.

_Too late._

With that thought in mind, Valerie quickly made her way towards where Steve was standing with his back facing her. And in the most sultry voice she could muster, she playfully said: "Waiting for someone, big boy?"

A question which caused Steve to turn around in confusion and then chuckle when he saw who had greeted him. "Just you, gorgeous."

After slightly laughing, Valerie stood on her tippy-toes to give the older man a small hug and then after stepping back, she couldn't help but platonically check her friend out.

_He looks pretty much the same, although he's picked up a couple of pounds since the last time I saw him._

As if reading her thoughts, Steve playfully chuckled before replying: "As you can see, I've been skipping the gym more and more as of recently to visit McDonald's."

"Which I can't blame you for." Valerie jokingly replied, before telling Steve they better start making their way closer to the baggage claim so they wouldn't have to wait longer than they had to for her bags.

"Yes, your majesty."

Fifteen minutes later, after locating Valerie's two small suitcases and Steve's recently washed BMW, Valerie and Steve found themselves speeding up the highway; having mindless chitchat while doing so.

"So, I thought you told me a couple of months ago that you were going to get rid of this car?"

Waiting until he had gotten into the next lane to respond, Steve replied: "I was. But then Janet realized how much I loved this bad-boy and decided just to trade her Mazda in for a family van."

"You must be so proud." Valerie jokingly commented, before turning her attention towards the passenger side window; noticing, after spotting a sign on the side of the road, that they had just passed the exit to Steve's house. "Um, I might be wrong, but don't you live back there?"

Waiting until after he had switched lanes once again, Steve quickly replied: "Yeah, I do. But since David's going on at nine and it's now seven-thirty, I figured we could just kill time before his performance by meeting everyone at the After Dark for dinner....I hope that's okay with you."

While looking down at the clothes she had on, Valerie outwardly replied: "It is...I was just hoping that I'd get a chance to change before we had to meet up with everyone."

A comment which caused Steve to quickly take his eyes off the road for a second, before reassuringly replying that Valerie had nothing to worry about. "You look fine."

Even though she knew he was talking about her clothes, Valerie couldn't help but sadly smile to herself as a flashback of these last couple of months popped into her head. _Well, I guess my mom was right...looks **can** be deceiving._

* * *

Eight O'clock

After practically speeding the rest of the way to the After Dark, Steve and Valerie were allowed to cut ahead of everyone in line--once the club's bouncer, who was also a friend of Steve's', noticed the two quickly approaching the club.

"You know.." Valerie began, while trying to ignore the looks of disbelief being thrown at her from behind, "One day, you're going to cut in front of someone with an anger management problem and their not just going to let you enter the club without having a nice long conversation with their fists."

While chuckling slightly at the comment, Steve confidently replied: "No one in this town would ever do that to me...there scared shitless of Janet and I because of our job."

After furrowing both eyebrows in confusion and asking Steve how scary could a man--who ran his own magazine be--Valerie couldn't help but roll her eyes in amusement when the older man quickly responded back with: "Janet and I always put profiles in our magazine on interesting real-life people that we've met. And because of that, no one messes with us because they think that if they were to say something or do something towards us, Janet and I would put something false in our magazine like the fact that they had a sex-change operation two years ago after discovering they were the father of twelve kids."

While laughing at the comment, Valerie quickly asked: "But you would never do that right?"

"Of course not...! But they don't need to know that." Steve playfully commented, before leading Valerie towards the front of the club where Kelly said her, Dylan, and Janet would be saving them a table.

Unfortunately though, as soon as Valerie saw them, she couldn't help but fidget self-consciously; while mentally thinking to herself: _If Steve didn't notice, hopefully there's no way they will be able to either._

"Well, thanks for ordering without us." Steve loudly spoke up, once they reached the table; causing the other three to look up from their barely eaten plates of food with small grins on their faces. "I'm feeling very loved right about now."

While throwing his hands up in mock surrender, Dylan playfully said that Steve couldn't blame him or Kelly for it because it was the mother of the other man's children who practically forced them to order with her after saying that she hated eating alone.

"All right, you have an excuse this time, but don't let it happen again."

After rolling her eyes at Steve's words, Kelly locked her gaze on Valerie and couldn't help but smile while saying: "Don't tell me...the cat's got your tongue?"

Knowing that the blonde was just teasing her caused Valerie to let out a small laugh before going around the table giving small hugs to everyone that was there--excluding Steve. And then after deciding Steve should have the seat next to Janet, she took a seat directly next to Kelly.

"Well, I would ask you how you've been, but it looks to me like Buffalo has been treating you very good. You've lost a lot of weight."

Even though she had lost over 12 pounds in the last three weeks, Valerie just nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders before telling her ex-enemy that she had lost some weight--but mostly due to stress.

"That does it to me everytime." Kelly joked, before continuing the conversation with: "You want me to flag down the waitress so you two can order?"

Before Valerie could even open her mouth to answer, Steve--claiming he was so hungry he could eat a horse--quickly flagged down a waitress; telling her he wanted a basket of buffalo wings and a plate full of cheese fries.

"And you, ma'am?"

Knowing that she hadn't eaten anything since seven o'clock that morning caused Valerie to open her mouth to tell the waitress to give her what Steve was having. But at the last second, she stopped herself; realizing that she wasn't even hungry. "No, I'm fine.....I ate on the plane."

Taking the lie as the truth, everyone nodded slightly to themselves before waiting until the waitress had left to change the topic of conversation.

"So, is everyone ready to listen to an hour of purely heartbreaking music?"

_Huh?_

Noticing the look of confusion on Valerie's face, Kelly quickly explained what she meant: "Dylan and I stopped by here earlier to get a glimpse at what David would be singing tonight, at his rehearsals. And after two songs, I practically had to run towards the bathroom to keep from crying. It was purely heartbreaking."

Even though she knew that David was usually the one who always tried to put a happy smile on every situation, Valerie wasn't that surprised at hearing that her ex-boyfriend's music, as of late, was something that could make you cry.

_He just got his heart broken by a woman he's known for almost his entire life. It wouldn't be right if he was singing anything but unhappy songs._

With that thought in mind, Valerie quickly shifted the conversation off of David's music and onto Janet's pregnancy until forty-five minutes later when David was seen making his way through the crowd.

"Here he comes."

After quickly turning her attention away from the diet coke, which she had just ordered a brief twenty minutes ago, Valerie couldn't help but sadly smile when she saw her friend making his way towards the stage.

He pretty much looked the same physically speaking. But from the slow way he was walking, she could tell that he wasn't feeling the same, mentally.

"I have a feeling we're all going to need some tissues after this."

While somewhat agreeing with Janet's comment, Valerie continued watching David as he sat down on the piano bench and reluctantly started his introductions.

"Hey everyone. Welcome to the After Dark.....my name's David and I would just like to thank everyone for coming out tonight....the first song I'll be performing for you is called _Never again_, and it was written for a very special lady in my life; who hopefully couldn't be here tonight."

After raising both eyebrows in surprise at that comment, Valerie continued to sit motionless in her seat as David slowly began to sing.

_

Would have given up my life for you  
Guess it's true what they say about love...it's blind  
Girl, you lied straight to my face, looking in my eyes  
And I believed you 'cause I loved you more than life  
And all you had to do was apologize 

_

You didn't say you're sorry, I don't understand  
You don't care that you hurt me and now I'm half the man  
That I used to be when it was you and me  
You didn't love me enough  
My heart may never mend and you'll never get to love me, again

Feeling a hand on her arm, Valerie slowly turned her eyes away from the stage to meet Kelly's identical blue eyes. "I guess it's a good thing I stopped Donna from coming tonight, huh?"

After outwardly agreeing with the comment, Valerie turned her attention back to the stage and then afterwards, while listening to David's next verse, she inwardly thought to herself:

A **very** good thing.

* * *

An hour and a half later

"Well, the young crowd is starting to come in which means we should probably start heading home now."

After slowly turning away from her conversation with Janet, Valerie threw a confused eyebrow at Dylan and Kelly; who were in the process of getting up. "You're not going to stay and wait for David?"

While sharing a small look with the others, Kelly nonchalantly replied: "I think tonight I'm just going to give him what he wants and let him have some space....I'll probably come back tomorrow to talk to him after I get off from work. Hopefully by then, he'll only chew part of my head off instead of the whole thing."

_Huh?_

Not really understanding where Kelly was coming from with that comment, Valerie waited until she and Dylan had left--saying they'd see her hopefully the next day--before turning her attention back towards Janet; wanting to know what Kelly had meant by that statement.

"You didn't tell her, did you?" Janet asked a guilty looking Steve after hearing Valerie's question.

"I didn't think she'd come if I did."

Without even bothering to hide it, Janet dramatically rolled her eyes at her husband before turning back to Valerie and saying: "Ever since Donna left David, he hasn't really wanted to talk to any of us about...well, _anything_. He just wants to be left alone. But since Kelly and _nosey_ over here wont stop trying to get him to talk to them, he's now snapping at every single one of us each time we get close enough to say _hi_; which in my honest opinion, everyone deserves but me."

After sarcastically smirking at this comment, Steve opened his mouth to tell Janet that he wasn't one of the only ones who was being, as she said, nosey. But before he could even get the first word out, he stopped himself as he noticed something from the corner of his eye. "David just went over to the bar...here's your chance to talk to him, Val."

_What?_

While staring at the older man as if he had suddenly grown two heads, Valerie quickly replied: "You expect me to go over there and ask him how he's doing after you two just told me that you guys can't even get an inch near him without getting blowed off..? Am I the only one seeing something wrong with that?"

"No, I'm seeing a lot of things wrong with that, as well."

Without even bothering to act like he had heard his wife, Steve quickly replied: "You don't have to ask him how he's doing. Just go over there and start a conversation with him; tell him that you're back in town for a couple of days and heard that he was going to be performing tonight, so you decided to stop by and see him....you don't even have to mention his divorce to Donna."

Even though part of Valerie was telling her that it was a bad idea, the brunette couldn't help but look over at Janet to see what she thought.

"Couldn't hurt matters worse than it already has....but if I was you, I'd make my mind up quick 'cause mama needs to wake up early tomorrow for work."

After throwing an apologetic smile at the other woman and mumbling to Steve "Here goes nothing," Valerie stood up from her seat and made her way over to where David was sitting at the bar with his back facing her.

_Hopefully he atleast lets me say hi before cursing me out._

"Hey."

After turning around to see which one of his friends had came to stick their nose in where it didn't belong this time, David allowed a hint of surprise to appear on his face, when he noticed that it was Valerie behind him, before quickly erasing the expression and putting a mask of annoyance on his face. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss. Valerie Malone...I figured it wouldn't be too long before you came back here. I mean, I'm sure you came running once you heard the news that you might be able to get in my pants once again."

_What the.._

Without even bothering to pretend like that comment hadn't surprised her, Valerie opened her mouth to tell David that **that** wasn't the reason why she had came to see him. But before she could even do so, he continued on with: "Let me guess...Steve told you all about my divorce and then practically guilt-tripped you into coming back here because _supposedly_ I need all of my friends right now to help me through this _painful time I'm going through..._is that it?"

Knowing that David always knew when she was lying or not caused Valerie to slowly nod her head in agreement, before opening her mouth to say something else. But unfortunately, once again, David angrily interrupted her before she could do so. "When is he going to get it through his thick skull that I don't want to talk to him or anyone else...? I just want to be left alone. **Got it!**"

After practically jumping as David slammed his fist down on the bar table in front of them, Valerie couldn't help but look on in worry as David pushed away from the bar and made his way backstage; where he had previously came from.

Once he was gone, she continued to stand there--hoping that he would come back out soon, claiming that he was wrong for the things he had said. But when David didn't, Valerie slowly turned around and made her way back to where Steve and Janet were still seated; not looking surprised at all at the events that just took place.

"I think it's time we all leave now."

"I agree!"

* * *

Next part soon


	3. Chapter two

**CHAPTER TWO**

Authors Note: I did a lot of research for this fic so I hope everyone enjoys it.

* * *

January 6, 2004 (Casa Walsh/Sanders)

After spending the night before up until two o'clock in the morning, driving around Beverly Hills with Steve, Valerie was more than annoyed when her cellphone began to ring around ten-thirty the next morning. _Something tells me that I already know who this is going to be._

"Hello?"

"Well, good morning, sleepyhead....I didn't wake you, did I?"

Knowing from the playful tone in his voice that Steve knew he had indeed done so, Valerie sarcastically retorted: "Of course not...! I was just lying here studying the cracks on your ceiling. Did you know that you have over a thousand of them...? You might want to go and get that checked out."

"Thanks for the tip." The older man joked, before clearing his throat slightly and moving onto what he had called her for: "I didn't mean to wake you, I just wanted to call and give you a heads up on the fact that David will be at the After Dark around twelve if you wanted to go and talk to him again."

As thoughts of what her ex-boyfriend had said to her the night before came tumbling back into her head, Valerie found herself reluctantly sitting up on her bed as she outwardly replied: "Thanks, but I don't think that's a really good idea...I don't think David really wants to talk to me right now."

Without even bothering to pause for a second, Steve pointed out, in a matter of fact tone, that David didn't really want to talk to _any_ of them right now. "But he's going to, whether he likes it or not."

After slightly smirking at this comment, Valerie found herself outwardly wondering why Steve kept trying to push David into opening up to everyone when he clearly didn't want to. "I mean, if he wants to be left alone, why can't we just leave him alone?"

As if it was an obvious answer, Steve didn't even wait a second before quickly responding back with: "Because we're his friends, Val. And like Dionne Warwick says: we're supposed to stick by one another through the good times **and** the bad times--just like David has always stuck by us."

Sensing the familiar feeling of guilt starting to kick in, Valerie slightly rolled her eyes in annoyance--even though she knew the man couldn't see her--before saying: "You know, one day I'm not going to be around to fall for your guilt trips anymore."

"Maybe...! But by then, I'll probably be dead."

After sarcastically laughing at that comment, Valerie had to put a hand up to her chest as a deep cough vibrated through her lungs.

"Uh-Oh. Sounds like someone came to California and got sick...should I have Madeline spend the night over her grandmothers again?"

Even though part of her throat and chest still hurt from that dry cough, Valerie--not wanting to make a big deal about what just happened--quickly replied: "No, I'm fine....that was just my usual morning cough. I think I got it from all those years of smoking when I was a kid."

Believing the lie, Steve outwardly replied that cigarettes will do that to a person before reluctantly continuing on with: "But hey, I have to get going...my boss just came in and it looks like she's about two seconds away from getting on my case, once again, for being on the phone while I'm supposed to be on _duty_."

After playfully commenting that she didn't want to get him into any trouble with Janet, Valerie quickly replied that she'd see him and his wife later when they got back home from work.

A comment which caused Steve to jokingly retort: "That is if she doesn't kill me first."

* * *

One-thirty PM (The After Dark)

After pulling the Sanders' mini-van into the nearest available parking space, Valerie had to quickly make a run for the club as huge drops of rain started falling down from the clouds above.

_My umbrella **would** be the one thing that I forget to pack when traveling to a place where it always seems to rain._

With that thought in mind, she quickly opened the door to the small nightclub and smiled slightly to herself when she was surrounded by the feeling of warmth. "Thank God for heaters."

While making her way further into the club, Valerie couldn't hide the impressed look that seemed to spread across her face as she got her first good look at the many things that had been added to the After Dark since she had last been there, over two years ago. "I can't believe this is even the same place...it looks completely different."

Just as the words had slipped past her tongue, a voice, from behind her, replied: "That's because it is different."

Startled by the comment, Valerie quickly turned around, dropping her purse in the process, and let out a sigh of relief as she realized that it was only David. "Jesus David, you scared the living hell out of me."

"Sorry." The younger man replied, in an insincere tone of voice, before looking over Valerie's shoulder and nonchalantly continuing with: "If you're looking for Dylan, he's in his office."

Even though part of her wanted to say _Thanks_, and just turn around and pretend that she had came to the club to see the older man, Steve's words from before came back to her causing Valerie to reluctantly reply: "Actually, I came by to see you...I figured we could talk."

_Here it comes.._

It only took a second before the annoyed expression, from the night before, was back on David's face. But interestingly enough, instead of the younger man laying into Valerie, he instead just turned around and walked back to the entrance door of the After Dark; throwing over his shoulder, as an afterthought: "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

While watching David walk out of the club, Valerie was surprised to find herself being pulled into two completely different directions.

_All right Val, you have two choices to make: you can either go and try to talk some sense into a very angry David; getting possibly your entire head chewed off in the process. Or you can go back to Steve's and tell him that even though you tried your best, David still doesn't want to talk to anyone, including yourself; getting nothing but probably two more days of guilt-trips from the older man, in return._

Knowing which one was the worst of both evils, Valerie let out a small sigh before quickly making her way back outside the club; catching up to a soaking wet David just as he was about to make a move to put his key into his car's door.

"David, wait...just hear me out."

Feeling as if he had already heard enough from her and everyone else around him, the younger man quickly turned around and angrily replied: "Look, you haven't been around for the last couple of months so maybe you didn't get the memo. But I want you and everyone else just to leave me the hell alone...! That means: I don't want you to call me. I don't want you to email me and I **especially** don't want you to stop by here to come see me......I just want to be left the hell alone right now! Why can't you people just understand that?"

_You people..?_

As the rain started to sink into her clothes, Valerie found herself becoming slightly angry. "David, I'm just trying to help."

"Well, who says I need your help...who says I need **anyone's** help?"

Even though she knew that a part of her next statement could be considered a low blow, the fact that she was outside in the rain--with someone she once swore she loved--hearing him tell her that he didn't need her or any of his other friends right now caused Valerie to angrily respond back with: "Everyone has said it: Steve. Kelly. Dylan. Your parents...even Donna."

Knowing that she had struck a chord with that last name, Valerie wasn't that surprised when less than a second later David screamed: "**None** of you know what I need!"

A comment which caused her to open her mouth to sarcastically reply, "Well, maybe if you'd let us in, we would." But instead of saying that, she instead just retorted: "Yes, we do. We're your friends."

Valerie was hoping that comment would knock some sense into David. But she soon realized that it hadn't as David quickly stated, in a matter of fact tone: "I **have** no friends."

_What the..?_

Figuring that she probably had nothing to say to that comment, David quickly let a hint of a smirk show across his face before turning around to hop back into his car. But before he could even touch the handle of the front seat's door, Valerie replied back: "You know what? Maybe your right...I mean, I thought that if I came here and told you that there was no reason to drown your sorrows in depression that maybe you'd miraculously see what was right in front of you. That your friends truly **did** care for you and that you were just hurting them by pushing them away."

"But instead, I came here to find out that the man, I once called my best friend, is just a jerk using the man I once loved's body...so, maybe you're right! Maybe you don't have any friends...maybe the only thing any of us have ever been to you has just been acquaintances. And you know what? Maybe the reason for that is because at the end of the day: who really wants to be friends with an asshole..? I know I don't."

With that being said, without even waiting to see if David would say anything to that comment or not, Valerie quickly turned around and made her way back to Steve's van; hoping that if anything had come out of her conversation with David, the fact that he might have just lost one of his best friends had.

* * *

(Casa Walsh/Sanders)

By the time Valerie got back to Steve's place a half-n-hour later, most of her anger had gone away; unfortunately being replaced by the feeling of stupidity.

_I can't believe I allowed myself to get in an argument with David, standing out in the pouring rain....knowing the condition that I' m in, I wouldn't be surprised if I went home with a cold after this._

With that thought in mind, Valerie quickly made her way to the guest-room; stripping out of her wet clothes and stepping into a pair of old sweats. And then aftewards, she made her way towards the guest-bed in the middle of the room; hoping that if she took a quick nap, she'd wake up in a few hours greatly energized and ready to go on with the rest of her day.

Unfortunately though, just as that thought had entered Valerie's mind, her cellphone went off; displaying a familiar Buffalo area-code. _Figures she'd choose this exact time to call me._

"Hello?"

"So, I'm guessing from the sound of your voice that you are indeed still alive?"

While turning the blankets back on her bed, Valerie couldn't help but slightly smirk to herself before outwardly replying: "I am...but I guess I forgot how to use a phone since I haven't called to check in with you since I stepped off my flight yesterday evening. I hope you can forgive me."

"Don't I always?" The other woman sarcastically asked, before continuing on with: "So, what interesting things have you and your old Beverly Hills gang been up to that would cause you to do such a bad thing as not call me...? Let me guess: you and some of your old girl friends went T.P'ing again?"

Before Valerie could outwardly retort: "Not exactly," a coughing fit--that was worst than the one heard earlier on the phone with Steve--took over her; causing Valerie to not only wince at the pain it brought her but also at the statement she'd knew she'd be hearing from Angie in a couple of seconds.

"Okay, you have two seconds to convince me that **that** came from your friend's wife before I hang up and get you a plane ticket out of there by tonight."

Knowing that her friend would indeed do that, Valerie waited until her heartbeat had slowed downed a little before quickly saying: "You don't have to do that, Ang, I'm fine...I just didn't get much sleep last night and then got caught in the rain this morning, so I've got a small cough."

Without even bothering to pause for a second, Valerie's live in roommate quickly replied: "First of all, if you call that a small cough, what do you call a huge cough...? And secondly, what the **hell** were you doing out in the rain...? You know what your doctor said. You--"

"Have to be careful in all types of weather...! Believe me, Ang, you don't have to tell me. I have the whole speech down pat." Valerie replied in semi-annoyance; having gotten this lecture time and time again from her blonde-haired friend.

"Well then, if you knew it: what could have possibly possessed you to be there, outside, playing in the rain?"

Valerie wanted to tell her friend that what she had been doing earlier wasn't exactly what she'd called _playing outside in the rain_. But as another cough threatened to come out of her mouth, she quickly replied: "It's a long story....one that I'm going to have to share with you another time because I really need to get some sleep....then hopefully by the time I wake up, I'll be fine and you'll have been worrying over nothing."

Their was a small pause on the other end--one which Valerie knew Angie was trying to calm down in--before the other woman replied: "I better be...but if I'm not, call me as soon as you can and I'll get you a ticket back here....I'm serious, Val. I'm worried about you."

Knowing that her friend was indeed worried about her--and probably had every right to be--caused Valerie to wait until she had tucked herself all the way underneath the covers of her bed, before genuinely throwing back: "I know you are, Ang...and if I haven't told you before, thank you for everything you've done for me these last couple of months....I don't think I could've made it without you."

After waiting a second to let that comment sink in, Angie softly replied: "That's what friends are for."

"And you're the best." Valerie softly replied, before reluctantly saying her good-byes and quickly hanging up the phone; inwardly telling herself that as long as she got some shuteye, she'd be as good as new in a couple hours.

Or atleast, she hoped she would be.

* * *

After what seemed like only an hour of being asleep, Valerie was awaken by the sound of the doorbell going off.

_Has that thing always been that loud?_

While reluctantly getting out of the bed, the somewhat sweat-drenched woman had to quickly reach for the night-stand beside her as a dizzy spell took over her. "Maybe I should've let Angie book me that ticket back home...I don't feel so good."

_And my throat hurts like hell._

With that thought in mind, after waiting until the small spell had somewhat passed, Valerie slowly made her way towards the front door where--whomever was outside--continued to ring the doorbell.

_If they have one shred of decency left in them, they'll stop ringing that damn thing before I stab them with a knife and bury their body in Steve's backyard._

As if having read her mind, the person on the other side of the door stopped ringing the doorbell long enough for Valerie to make it to the front hall without screaming _bloody murder_ in pain.

"Thank you." Valerie outwardly mumbled, before opening the door in front of her and inwardly groaning at who she saw behind it. _He better not be here to start another fight with me...I'm in no mood for it right now._

"What are you doing here, David?"

After taking a second to study the woman in front of him in confusion, David quickly brought his right hand up to waist level, saying: "You left this back at the club...I figured you'd be needing it."

Without even bothering to meet his eye, Valerie thanked the younger man in front of her before taking her purse from him and turning back around; hoping that somewhere in the bag she could find a bottle of Tylenol.

_And maybe some NyQuil to go with it._

While making her way into the kitchen, where she knew Janet and Steve stored a bottle of Advil above the refrigerator--out of Maddy's reach--Valerie could still feel David's eyes on her from the main door's door frame, but she really didn't care.

_The only thing I care about right now is getting my chest to UN-tighten, my head to stop pounding, and this dizziness to go away._

Interestingly enough, as soon as those words had entered her head, the dizziness--that had left a couple of minutes ago--came back in full throttle; this time causing Valerie to not only fall towards the ground--since there was nothing around for her to grab onto. But also, black out, as well, with only one word on her lips before everything went dark:

"David!"

* * *

Next part soon.


	4. Chapter three

  
  
Disclaimer: None of the major characters are mine.  
Authors Note: I did a lot of research for this chapter so hopefully everything turns out okay.

* * *

Almost an hour after finding out that Valerie had passed out and been taken to St. Vincent Medical Center in an ambulance, Kelly found herself entering a deadly silent waiting room; where almost all of her friends were seated, looking to be just as confused as she was.  
  
"Hey...sorry it took me so long to get here. The traffic out there was a bitch."  
  
While standing up so his wife could have a seat, Dylan assured her that she hadn't missed much. "We're still waiting for someone to come out and give us any information that they possibly can."  
  
After slightly frowning over the fact that they still hadn't heard any word from anyone yet, Kelly turned her blue eyes on the man sitting beside her; outwardly asking him what happened.  
  
"I don't know..." Steve replied, with an uneasy voice. "Janet and I had just pulled up when the ambulance was leaving and besides the E.M.T's telling us that Valerie needed to get to a hospital fast, the only thing we could get from David was that he had come by to drop off Valerie's purse that she had left at the After Dark and he saw her pass out in front of him."  
  
Adverting her attention away from Steve, Kelly locked her gaze on an--as-usual--quiet David.  
  
_I wonder just how much of a chewing out I'd get if I asked him if there was anything else that had happened while he was there to cause Valerie to pass out--maybe like a screaming match?_  
  
Fortunately before Kelly could open her mouth to ask that question, someone else entered the waiting room, asking if anyone was there for a _Miss. Malone._  
  
"We are!" Steve quickly replied, while standing up. "Are you her doctor?"  
  
While studying the group of people in front of him, Dr. Phillips nodded his head in confirmation. "I am...but before I can give you any information concerning Miss. Malone, I need to ask is anyone in this room related to the patient?"  
  
Seeing only shakes of the head, the doctor continued with: "That's what I thought...normally, we're only allowed to give out information to the immediate family of our patient. But since the only person listed on Miss. Malone's contact sheet is deceased, we can make an exception and tell the person or persons who brought her in exactly what's going on."  
  
Without even bothering to wait another second, Dr. Phillips began: "We're still waiting for the tests results to come back, but from the chest x-rays that we took of her, it looks like your friend is suffering from a slight case of pneumonia; which usually clears up in a matter of a couple of weeks."  
  
_Thank God!_  
  
Even though she had just heard that Valerie had pneumonia, Kelly couldn't help but let out a slow sigh and slightly smile at the fact that **that** was all the brunette had. _It could've been something worse._  
  
As if reading her thoughts, the older man continued with: "Lucky enough for Miss. Malone, the viral infection was caught before it could get too out of hand. But because of her having leukemia, it still did a lot of damage to her white blood cells; which is the reason why your friend passed out."  
  
After hearing the last statement, the smile that was on Kelly's face quickly slipped away; being replaced by a confused stare. "Wait a minute..did you just say that Valerie has leukemia?"  
  
Noticing that not only did the blonde in front of him have a confused look on her face, but so did the rest of the four in front of him, caused Dr. Phillips to let out a long sigh. If he had known that they didn't know that small piece of information, he would've let Miss. Malone tell them herself. Or chosen a better way to say his last statement.  
  
Knowing he couldn't take any of it back though, caused the older man to slightly nod his head in confirmation before hesitantly replying that Miss. Malone had been diagnosed with leukemia last year during a routine physical.  
  
"I can't believe this...she never even told me. She's been staying with us for the last two days and she seemed fine."  
  
Realizing that this was a hard pill to swallow, Dr. Phillips waited a second before retorting: "I'm sure she was fine. But because of her weak system, any kind of activity--where she could catch a cold or anything else--triggered the pneumonia....which brings me to my next question: do any of you know if Miss. Malone has been around an adult or child with the flu or a cough as of recently?"  
  
Before anyone could say no, David spoke up, for the first time since they had all arrived there; causing everyone to turn their attention towards him. "She was outside earlier today."  
  
While writing this information down on the clipboard that he had in his hands, Dr. Phillips outwardly asked: "In the rain?" Causing the man in front of him to drop his eyes down to the floor while absentmindedly nodding his head. "She dropped by where I work to talk to me. And I didn't want to hear it, so I went to leave. But she followed me instead."  
  
"Wait a minute! So, it's because of **your** funky attitude that Valerie is laid up in some hospital with pneumonia?" An angry Steve yelled; causing David to angrily tense up while replying: "Hey, I told her to leave me alone and she didn't. So, **don't** blame me!"  
  
Knowing that **that** wasn't the response Steve was looking for, no one in the waiting room was that surprised when the older man made a move towards David while angrily replying: "**Don't** tell me who to blame...! It's all **your** fault that Valerie's here."  
  
"Well, no one told her that she had to come to California. So, the way I see it, this is what she gets!"  
  
"**Screw you!**" Steve angrily yelled back, while once again advancing towards the younger man; fortunately enough being held back by Dylan. "She came here because she's your friend and she was worried about you. And now that she's paying for it with her life, all you can do is sit there and say: _that's what she gets_! I guess we all know what kind of friend **you** are."  
  
Without even waiting for a second to go by, David--remembering his conversation with Valerie from before--seethingly replied: "Apparently not any of yours," before standing up and making his way outside of the waiting room; leaving everyone else behind him to look on in shock and disbelief.  
  
"Asshole."  
  
After waiting a couple of minutes, until Steve looked like he wouldn't go running after the younger man, Dylan let the blonde go and turned his attention back to the doctor: "So, uh, when can we see her?"  
  
As if wondering if he'd regret saying this later, Dr. Phillips waited an entire minute before saying: "Follow me.."

* * *

"Miss. Malone...you have visitors."  
  
Turning her attention away from the window she was looking out of, Valerie let out a small curse as she saw Dr. Phillips making his way into her room, followed by Kelly, Dylan, Steve and Janet.  
  
"Hey guys.."  
  
While looking between Miss. Malone and the four others beside him, Dr. Phillips realized that he should give them a few minutes of privacy, so he quickly replied that he'd be back after checking on a couple of his other patients, before silently leaving the room and unfortunately leaving Valerie to deal with her friends silence by herself.  
  
_I feel like a lab experiment gone wrong_. Valerie inwardly commented to herself as she watched Dylan and Steve examine the IV tube that was in her arm while Janet and Kelly looked anywhere but near Valerie's wondering eyes. "Okay, I'm starting to get the feeling that I might've lost my hearing. Can someone please say something?"  
  
As if appointing himself as the group's leader, Steve slowly replied: "Why didn't you tell us?"  
  
A question which caused Valerie to briefly feign confusion until Kelly chimed in with: "The doctor told us that you have leukemia...why didn't you tell any of us that before?"  
  
After adverting her eye's from the people in front of her to the IV tube that was in her left hand, Valerie let out a slow sigh. She had been asking herself that same question for months now. _Why hadn't she told any of them yet?_  
  
A part of her believed that it was because she was hoping if none of them knew it, then none of it could be true. But knowing they wouldn't understand that answer, Valerie reluctantly replied: "I didn't want any of you to worry about me."  
  
A statement which caused Dylan to respond back with: "Val, it's our duty to worry about you. We're your friends," and Kelly to add: "All of us are."  
  
Without even bothering to blink it back in, Valerie let a small tear come down her face while she silently apologized to each and every single one of them for not telling any of them sooner. "I just didn't know how to tell you guys."  
  
After a few more minutes of reluctantly answering any questions that the group sent her way, Valerie was somewhat relieved when Dr. Phillips came back in the room, saying that visiting hours were over.  
  
"All right." Steve replied, before moving his eyes back down towards Valerie and questioning when the doctor thought that she would be able to return back home.  
  
"Miss. Malone should be free to leave sometime tomorrow afternoon after we run a few more tests. But in order for her to leave, I'm going to need some reassurance that someone will be with her at all times until she gets slightly better, just so someone will be around if she has anymore fainting spells."  
  
Looking at the four in front of her, Valerie watched on as they each sent one another inward messages; ones that she was guessing meant that none of them could afford to take off of work to _baby-sit_ her.  
  
_I should just change my flight to tomorrow night so that no one will have to use their vacation days to stay with me. And Angie will get her wish and I'll come home sooner._  
  
Interestingly enough, before Valerie could open her mouth to say that statement outloud, a voice from behind everyone said: "She can stay with me." Causing Steve to mumble, so only she could hear: "Over my dead body."  
  
_I guess they found out about our argument outside of the After Dark._  
  
Waiting until after everyone had cleared out of the way so Valerie could fully see him without having to slightly sit up, David continued with: "Besides my Sunday night gigs at the After Dark, I'm not scheduled for anything else outside of the house for atleast a couple more months--I'll be there morning, noon and night if Valerie ever needs me--unlike the rest of you who have jobs and families to take care of."  
  
Even though no one wanted to admit it, Valerie knew they all realized that David was right and that he was the only one who wouldn't have to move anything aside to accommodate her.  
  
"Well, if that's okay with Miss. Malone, then that's fine with me."  
  
Realizing that **that** was more of a question than a statement caused Valerie to risk a glimpse in David's direction while replying: "I'm game if he is."

* * *

Next part soon 


	5. Chapter four

**Chapter Four**

Disclaimer: None of the major characters are mine.

Authors Note: The song David is singing in this chapter is called "Still on my brain" by J. Timberlake.

* * *

"Don't worry, Miss. Malone, it'll be all over in just a second and then you can go home, I promise."

_That's what you told me an hour ago,_ Valerie inwardly commented to herself, before quickly turning her head in the other direction as the nurse beside her began to take out the IV, that Valerie herself had been dying to remove from her arm for over twenty-four hours now. _God, I hate this part…_

As many times as Valerie had been hospitalized in the last year, she knew she would never get used to the feeling of needles being taken in and out of her arm. It was the only reason why, when growing up, in Buffalo she never chose heroin as one of her drugs of choice--like some of her other friends did. _I would've passed out before the rubber band even touched my arm._

"There, we're all done. You can look now."

Without even bothering to hold back the small blush that was quickly appearing across her face, Valerie let out a small laugh while replying. "Sorry, I don't really do needles that well."

"That's fine. I completely understand," The older woman commented, just as a knock was heard at the door to Valerie's hospital room and a second later opened; exposing both David and Dr. Phillips behind it.

"Well, I guess I don't have to ask if you're ready to go home now."

Knowing that the man in front of her was referring to the fact that Valerie was at the moment seated on her hospital bed wearing a pair of sneakers--that Steve had dropped off for her that morning—and the same pair of sweats she had been brought in with the day before, caused Valerie to laugh slightly to herself before asking: "May I?"

A comment which caused Dr. Phillips to slightly laugh as well before continuing with: "I don't see why not. Your lab results from earlier came back mostly normal and besides the new dizzy spells and a couple of other things your doctor has already told me he told you to look out for, I don't have anything else to add. So, yes, you are now free to go."

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear that one." Valerie absentmindedly joked, before hopping off the gurney she was seated on and thanking the doctor in front of her one last time.

"It was my pleasure…now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go check on one of my other patients. But remember, Miss. Malone, you have the number here and the number to my office, if at any time you feel another dizziness spell or something else occurring. I mean it, call me, Miss. Malone."

"I will. Thanks once again, Dr. Phillips." Valerie outwardly replied, before absentmindedly watching on as both the doctor and the nurse from before quickly left the room.

Afterwards she reluctantly turned her attention towards the still silent David, who hadn't bothered to say anything to her since he offered his place to her the night before. _I guess I could end my part of the silent treatment and thank him for that._

Interestingly enough, before Valerie could do so, David commented that they should hurry up and leave 'cause he had left his car in one of the fifteen minute parking spots.

Afterwards he proceeded to leave the room; causing Valerie to be left with one last thought in her head before she began to silently follow him out the door.

_Something tells me these are going to be the longest two weeks of my life._

* * *

(Six PM)

After being waken every three hours by one of the nurses stopping by to check on her, Valerie wasn't that surprised that once she arrived at David's and he showed her where she'd be staying for the next couple of weeks, she quickly fell asleep.

She was more surprised that it took her phone, which was right next to her, almost three rings before she was finally able to pick it up. _I guess what they say is true: the older you get, the slower you are._

With that thought in mind, Valerie quickly pressed _talk_ on her cell-phone before the person on the other end could hang up. "Hello?"

"Hey Val…it's me, Kelly."

Without even bothering to hide it, Valerie couldn't help but smile at the voice on the other end.

_If anyone would've told me, a couple years ago, that Kelly would be calling to speak to me, I would've thought they were lying. That goes to show you…a lot of things **can** change through the years._

"Hey Kel…why didn't you just call the house phone?"

"To be honest with you…as much as I love David, I really didn't want to risk the chance of having to speak to him right now, especially after yesterday."

Having heard this same conversation from Steve when he had visited the hospital earlier that morning caused Valerie to silently nod to herself before quickly changing the subject. _I think I've heard enough David bashing for one day._

"So, what's up?"

"Nothing, really," Kelly commented after a seconds pause, "I was just calling 'cause Erin was asking about you and I was wondering if I could bring her over this weekend so we could all catch up and have a little girl's day at David's place, what do you say?"

Any other time, Valerie probably would've jumped at the chance of seeing Erin—since she hadn't seen the younger female in what felt like years. But given the fact that David wasn't really acting like himself as of late, she wasn't sure if having house-guests so soon would be the right thing to do.

_I don't know…maybe since it's his younger sister coming over, he might not care that much as long as we all stay out of his hair for a while._

After taking another second to think about it, Valerie reluctantly agreed with the idea; a fact which Kelly was happy about.

"Great…but now, I hate to call and run, but Dylan just came home with pasta and I'm **starving**. Can I call you back later?"

After slightly laughing at that comment, Valerie outwardly commented that **that **was fine with her and that she should go ahead and find herself something to eat as well. "I don't think I've eaten a thing since this morning."

"Yeah, then you should defiantly go and eat something." Kelly replied, in all seriousness, before starting to say her goodbyes, and then as an after-thought interrupting them with: "Oh, before I forget, I just wanted to tell you, if I hadn't told you lately, I'm glad you and me got to be friends."

Even though Valerie knew that Kelly's sudden admission was probably stemming from what the group found out about Valerie the day before, the fact that the words had come from the other woman alone caused Valerie to slightly smile at the fact.

"I'm glad we became friends as well, Kel—I'll talk to you later."

With that being the last word, Kelly quickly said her goodbyes once again and then hung up the phone; allowing Valerie to finally stand up and reluctantly make her way out and into the quiet hallway.

_I wonder where David is…_

After passing the younger man's room and hearing no sound or movements coming from inside the chamber, Valerie was just about to figure that he was asleep or had stepped out for a second when the sound of a piano being played drifted towards her from down the hallway.

_I guess **some** things **do **stay the same._

Even though she knew it was eaves-dropping, Valerie couldn't help but make her way towards the sound of David's voice; careful to do so quietly so he wouldn't hear her.

_The beautiful days are long gone  
I can't seem to breathe  
It feels like it hasn't been that long  
Since you walked away from me  
Now I can try to act real strong  
But you and I both know I still think of you that way  
You should know…that _

The beautiful lights the star filled nights  
They don't mean a thing  
Cause you were my star and so it don't seem right  
Without you here with me  
Now I can try to act real strong  
But you and I both know its hard for me to say  
You were my soul…

As Valerie watched the man in front of her get into the words that he was singing, she couldn't help but curse Steve and everyone else who had been trying to get David to tell them how he was feeling.

_If they only knew…he has been this entire time, just through his music._

After listening to the words for a couple more seconds, Valerie figured she should go back to giving the younger man his space. And she was about to make a move to do so, when David abruptly stopped playing and softly said: "You can come in."

_Shit!_

Not knowing what to do now caused Valerie to pause for a second before inwardly saying _oh, what the hell_ and then reluctantly making her way further into the room; stopping only when she was two inches in front of David, next to the piano bench he was seated on.

"I didn't mean to interrupt, but…that was really beautiful, David."

After a second of getting no response in return, Valerie inwardly thought to herself: _Okay, what now? _And then afterwards, figuring anything was better than this, she reluctantly made a move to leave the room, but like once before, she was stopped once again.

"I'm sorry."

_What?_

Confused by this sudden apology, Valerie quickly turned around—wanting to know if she had heard him right. "What did you say?"

After a minute of not saying anything, David once again said: "I'm sorry...I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm sorry for embarrassing you. I'm sorry for putting your health at risk and I'm also sorry for saying all those things to you when you were only trying to help."

_Wow…_

Not knowing what to say to any of this caused Valerie to be stunned for a couple of seconds. But then after a second of processing David's apology, she finally said: "It's okay."

A comment which David quickly became upset with.

"No, it's _not_ okay! I had **no** right to _say_ or _do_ any of those things to you. I was just upset….upset at Donna and upset at myself.

Having a feeling that the walls were starting to crumble a little, Valerie inwardly braced herself for another shouting match before outwardly asking David if he wanted to talk about it.

"I…" David opened his mouth to begin, but at the last second, he stopped. "I think I should go and start dinner. It's getting late and you haven't eaten anything today."

_What the hell?_

As if that whole conversation hadn't just happened, Valerie watched on as David quickly stood up from the piano bench and quickly made his way out of the living room.

_Shit…I was so close._

* * *

Next part soon. 


	6. Chapter five

CHAPTER FIVE

January 10th, 2004

After spending the next couple of days squared away in David's guestroom going over a few work related files--that her friend and room-mate Angie had over-nighted her--while a still brooding David spent the majority of his time in his living room, pouring out his heart to his piano, Valerie was more than shocked when a knock was heard at the room's door, followed by, a couple seconds later, David sticking his head in and asking her if she had a minute.

"Sure…what's up?"

After looking around for a place to sit down, and not finding anywhere but next to Valerie on the bed, David reluctantly took a seat next to the older female before beginning to tell her what was on his mind, "Do you remember that guy I introduced you to a few years ago, the one who was looking to start his own PR firm and wanted me to go into business with him a couple years back?"

After taking a second to think about it, Valerie quickly nodded her head as if to say yes she remembered, before outwardly replying, "Yeah, his name was Rick Lubin or something like that, right?"

"Yeah," David commented, looking to be slightly impressed that she had remembered his name—but only for a second. "Anyway, that was him on the phone. Turns out that he just got back from vacationing in Hawaii only to discover a bunch of missed calls and messages from one of his friends, who works in N.Y under Arista Records. The guy said he was down here on business last weekend, scouting out a few acts, and just happened to hear about the After Dark and saw yours truly performing there Sunday night."

_Oh my god…_

Now understanding why David seemed to look much happier now than he did almost a week ago when she had first came back to Los Angeles caused a small smile to spread across Valerie's face as she quickly asked David what the man said.

"He told Rick that he loved my raw emotion and that **I** was just what he'd been searching for when coming to Beverly Hills. He said he wants to fly back down here in a couple of weeks to check out another one of my performances and see about signing me onto his record label."

"Oh my god, David, that's great!"

Without even thinking about what she was doing, Valerie quickly leaned in towards David and threw her arms around his shoulders; pulling the younger man into a small bear hug.

After a second of doing this, Valerie was quickly brought back to her senses as she noticed that David was starting to stiffen up underneath her.

Removing him from her embrace, Valerie slightly blushed while apologizing and then afterwards, she replied. "I'm just so happy for you. I'm really proud of you, David."

While letting, what looked to be, a small smile pop up on his face for a couple of seconds, David outwardly replied, "I'm proud of myself…now we have a reason to celebrate."

_Really?_ Valerie opened her mouth to ask, but at the last second she had to close it as she remembered Dr. Myers warning of her to stay low for the next couple of weeks. _Just one time shouldn't hurt things though…._

As if reading Valerie's mind, David quickly replied, "It doesn't have to be anything too fancy--no trips outdoors or anything. Just a simple dinner at home…to thank you."

_To thank me…?_ _What for?_

After wondering this question out-loud, Valerie was taken aback when, after a small second of silence had passed between the two, David sincerely replied, "For believing me in the past when no one else did and never allowing me to give up on my dreams. That means a lot more to me than you'll ever know, Val."

_Wow, does this man have a way with words…_

Knowing that the moment had gotten a little bit more emotional than David had wanted it to get, Valerie refrained from telling the man in front of her how much that statement had meant to her and instead agreed to celebrate later that night with him.

_Hey, if he wants to go through all this effort just to __**thank me**__, the least I can do is try and keep his food down._

* * *

Later that night, while sitting across from David at the dining room table, Valerie realized after a few minutes of silence had passed between the two of them, that even though she hadn't yet touched the food in front of her, she should at least compliment David on his cooking skills.

"This looks really good, David."

After taking a second to look away from his half eaten chicken and move his line of vision towards Valerie's untouched plate of food, David sarcastically replied, "Oh yeah? Then why aren't you eating any of it?"

_Ouch_

Noticing the slight edge in the man's voice caused Valerie to quickly feel guilty. _I knew I should've said something to him before he first started cooking._

After putting her fork down, Valerie slowly remarked, "It's not because the food doesn't look appetizing--because it does. It's just that I haven't been able to keep anything down for the last couple of weeks. It's one of the minuses of having leukemia, I guess."

After taking a small second to study the woman in front of him, David raised an eyebrow in questioning while rhetorically asking if there were any pluses.

Knowing that there wasn't, Valerie moved her attention back to the plate in front of her and then looked up again when the cordless phone across from them began to ring.

"I'll get it."

Watching as David stood up from the table and made his way over to the phone, Valerie couldn't help but wonder who it was when she noticed the younger man's face go from a neutral expression to a slightly appreciated expression then back to a neutral expression again.

_I wonder who that could be….._

She didn't have to wonder much longer though as David took the phone away from his ear and then while handing the device to her, he replied: "It's for you. It's Brandon."

"Shit! I knew there was someone I forgot to call…"

While absentmindedly watching on as David took a seat in the chair he had previously occupied, Valerie outwardly said her hellos. "Hey Brandon, what's up?"

"**What's up**? Do you know how long I've been trying to get in contact with you? Why didn't you tell me you were going back home?"

Hearing the anger in his voice even through the phone caused Valerie to slightly wince before outwardly replying that it had been a last minute decision—wisely leaving the part out about Steve begging her to come cheer up David since no one else seemed to be able to do so, especially with the latter sitting across from her at the moment. "Anyway, who told you I was here?"

Knowing who the culprit was before Brandon even had a chance to answer her caused Valerie not to be that surprised when Brandon replied, "Steve… which brings me to the question of why are you staying at Casa Silvers when there's plenty of room for you over at Casa Walshes?"

Glancing over at David, who was still looking down at her plate of food, Valerie chose her words carefully while telling Brandon that **that** was another story for another day.

As if realizing that their conversation was probably being eavesdropped on, Brandon was silent for a second before saying that he'd hold her to that. "But anyway, Malone, I was just calling to touch base with you, but I'll probably call back later on, either this weekend or next week; whether you're still in California or back in Buffalo, all right?"

Not wanting to seem rude, but wanting to get Brandon off the phone, caused Valerie to quickly reply, "Okay. I'll talk to you later then. Take care, Brandon."

"You too, Val." The male replied back, before disconnecting their phone call and leaving Valerie alone again to talk to only David.

_Or better yet, alone again, to look at only David._

With that thought in mind, Valerie let out a small sigh before turning her attention back to the food on her plate, but then surprisingly she had to look up once again as David began to open his mouth.

"So, does Brandon know?"

Not really knowing what he was talking about caused Valerie to furrow both eyebrows in confusion, before asking the younger man, "About what?"

After taking a second to try and word the question correctly, David replied: "Does he know that you have cancer?"

After waiting until she had taken a sip out of her water glass, the only thing she had touched since the beginning of this meal, Valerie let out a small sigh before nodding her head and saying that Brandon did indeed know that she had cancer.

Knowing that he was probably wondering how Brandon knew when the rest of the gang didn't caused Valerie to begin spilling the story, "After my mom's funeral last year, Brandon had come by the house to see if I had needed anything and I asked him for a ride to my doctor's appointment because my car was in the shop that day. He went in with me when we got there and that was the day that the doctor told me that I had leukemia."

After a few seconds of silence had passed between the two, David asked another question, that Valerie had been suspecting the younger man had been dying to ask since she had moved in with him a couple days before, "So, what's the real reason you didn't tell anyone else that you had cancer?"

Even though she had told the rest of the gang that it was because she didn't want them to worry about her, Valerie knew there had been another reason to it as well—and she guessed David could tell also.

With that thought in mind, she told him the truth:

"I didn't tell anyone for the same reason why you told all of us to leave you alone—I thought I could deal with it on my own."

As if he had known all along that **that** was the real reason why she hadn't told anyone why she had cancer, David began to nod his head in understanding before turning his attention back to the food on his own plate; letting Valerie know that the conversation had been dropped…for the moment anyways.

* * *

(The next day)

After telling a reluctant David that since he had spent the entire evening cooking, she'd do the dishes while he finished working on a song he was writing, Valerie quickly cleaned up the kitchen—that David hadn't left that much of a mess in—and then retired to her room for the rest of the night; only to be awaken, what she thought to be, a few seconds later by a knock at the door.

Figuring it was David, she yelled out, "Just a second," before throwing on the silk robe that lay beside her and then tying the front of it into a knot so her night gown wasn't being exposed. "Okay, it's open."

Interestingly enough, to Valerie's surprise, it wasn't David at the door, but Kelly.

"Well good afternoon, sleepy head. Did you get a good rest?"

_Afternoon?_ Valerie inwardly commented to herself, before turning towards the digital clock beside her bed; seeing that it was indeed going on one p.m. "Oh my god, I can't believe I slept that long."

After taking a seat at the bottom of the bed and slightly laughing at her now disheveled friend, Kelly outwardly replied, "Yeah, when David told me that he thought you were still sleeping, I didn't believe him—it must be nice."

"Wait, you talked to David?" Valerie opened her mouth to ask, but not wanting to hear any David bashing so early in the morning—or afternoon, that is—she instead looked around the room, as if she was missing something and said: "Hey, I thought you were going to bring Erin with you?"

While displaying a look of amusement on her face, Kelly quickly replied back that she did. "But she's in the living room right now giving David a **piece** of her mind--I almost didn't want to leave, after seeing the look on David's face when she started in on him, but I figured you needed at least a small bit of a warning before taking on the likes of my little sister's mouth. It's indescribable."

After taking a second to laugh a little at that comment, Valerie had to throw a hand over her mouth as her chuckles soon turned into a hoarse sounding cough which ended up leaving her voice painfully raw.

"Are you okay?"

Even though there were now tears in her eyes from the harsh cough, not wanting Kelly to worry about her caused Valerie to quickly reply, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just need some water."

Interestingly enough before Valerie could even make a move to get up to go get the item, Kelly stood up and said that she'd go get it, and then was out of the room before Valerie even had a chance to stop her.

After outwardly saying, "Thanks, I guess," to the spot where Kelly had just stood, Valerie absentmindedly rubbed her hands down the front of her robe and then stood up; preparing to get her clothes out for the day.

"Valerie!"

Turning away from the closet she was peering into, Valerie couldn't help but smile when she saw a miniature version of Jackie Taylor and Kelly McKay quickly walking towards her, with Kelly coming in the door behind her. "Hey you! Come over here and give me a hug."

After wrapping her arms around the younger girl, Valerie took a step back to admire the petite teenager and then after outwardly commenting on the girl's shorter hairstyle, she slowly reached over and accepted the glass of water that Kelly was now handing her. "I can't believe how much your sister has grown. Wasn't it just yesterday that we were all taking turns babysitting her?"

"Yeah, and now **she's** the one doing the babysitting—which reminds me, Janet and Steve have to attend lamaze class next week and wanted to know if I knew anyone who would like to watch Madeline after they got out of school on Monday?"

Without even taking a second to think about it, Erin quickly told her sister that she'd do it, no charge; a comment which caused Valerie to smile, remembering how Steve had told her how Madeline wanted to be like the teenage Erin when she got older.

_It's good that she's got such a good role model at a young age._

"What's that on your robe...? Is that blood?"

_Blood?_

Snapping out of her thoughts at this comment, Valerie looked down at the area on her robe that Erin was pointing out to her and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she noticed the red streak, that hadn't been there before, on the silk item.

"Yeah, it does kind of look like blood, but…" Valerie began, trying to think of where the stain had come from. But then after noticing Kelly staring at her hand, that was holding the glass of water, she remembered her cough from before. And after moving the glass into her other hand and seeing the remains of dried blood on her hand, she confirmed what she had already guessed:

_I coughed up blood?_

* * *

Next part soon. What do you guys think? 


	7. Chapter six

Chapter Six

After spending a girl's day with Erin and Kelly; dividing their time between not bringing up the incident before and watching a couple of movies that Kelly had brought over from her house, Valerie was slightly upset when they had to leave.

"I wish we could stay longer but mom has decided that ever since me and Dylan got married, I don't spend enough time with her and Erin, so we're going to the Peach Pit for dinner."

While smiling a little, Valerie replied that it was okay and hopefully they could soon all get together for some of Nat's famous peach pie.

"It's a deal." Kelly responded back, before giving Valerie one last hug goodbye, shortly followed behind by Erin, and then closing the door to David's house behind her.

After making sure the front door was locked, Valerie quickly made her way up the stairs and towards the guest room she was staying in, and without a further thought she grabbed her purse off the bed and after pulling out a business card, she dialed the local number on the card.

"Doctor Phillips' office."

"Uh, hi, Doctor. Phillips…? This is Valerie--Valerie Malone."

After a small second of silence was heard on the other line, the older man replied: "Ah, yes, Miss, Malone, how are we doing today?"

Not wanting to lie, Valerie reluctantly replied: "I'm good…well, as good as the circumstances allow me to be."

"That doesn't sound too good…are you still experiencing dizziness spells?"

"No…" Valerie replied, thankful that _that_ symptom had stopped. "But some other symptoms have been coming up--both new and some old…I've been having a lack of appetite, exhaustion, and I'm also starting to cough up some blood. So, I was wondering if that was unusual for someone in my condition."

After another second of silence had passed between the two, Doctor Phillips knowingly replied: "While the lack of appetite and exhaustion are two common signs of pneumonia and acute leukemia, the coughing up blood is not….do you think your friend Mr. Silver could bring you down to the office? It's located near the west wing of the hospital."

_He can if I find him._ Valerie replied to herself--knowing that she hadn't seen or heard from David since Kelly and Erin had arrived earlier that day and the younger of the two had supposedly given him a piece of her mind. "I'm sure he can…how does an hour sound?"

"That will be fine. I'll see the both of you in an hour."

With that being said, Valerie said her goodbyes and then hung up the phone. Then after taking a second to run her hand through her short mane, she made a move to get up and go find David. But just as she turned around, she had to hold back a scream as she noticed David standing in front of her, leaning up against the doorway.

"I didn't hear you come back." Valerie opened her mouth to say, but before she could do so, David replied: "I'll be downstairs when you're ready to go."

A comment which caused Valerie to first furrow her eyebrows in response, wondering how much of the conversation he had heard, and then without further thought, quickly grab her purse and her wallet from the bed; all the while thinking to herself:

_I had a feeling that things were going to get a lot worse than they got better._

* * *

An hour later

As soon as David and Valerie reached Doctor Phillips' office, a nurse greeted them at the door and asked Valerie to follow her down the hall so she could take a urine and blood sample.

Meeting David's gaze, Valerie asked if the younger man was going to be okay in the waiting room. But before he could respond back to the question, the nurse quickly replied: "Actually, Mr. Silver, if it makes you more comfortable, you can wait in Doctor Phillips office and Miss Malone will meet you there as soon as we're done running the tests on her."

As if that was fine by him, David nodded his head in agreement before giving Valerie one last look and then heading in the direction that the nurse had directed him towards.

"Right this way, Miss. Malone."

After adverting her gaze from David's quickly vanishing figure, Valerie nodded her head in response and then quickly followed the nurse towards the examination room.

* * *

Nine thirty PM

After spending ten minutes taking the tests and then another twenty minutes waiting with David to hear back about the results, Valerie was more than relieved to see Doctor Phillips enter his office a mere thirty minutes after her and David had arrived at the hospital.

_If I would've had to wait another five minutes, I think I would've screamed. _

"Mr. Silver, Miss. Malone." Doctor Phillips began, after taking a seat in the chair across from them and then taking a second to read the results in his hands before continuing on with, "After viewing your blood results, Miss. Malone, I hate to inform you that I found that due to your recent battle with pneumonia, your white blood cells are failing at a rapid quickness, causing your health to become….rather deadly."

_Deadly?_

Feeling as if the walls in the doctor's office were closing in on her, Valerie had to catch her breath while processing the doctor's words at the same time. "What do you mean by deadly? Are you saying that I'm going to die?"

After looking back at the chart in front of him and then letting out a small sigh, Doctor Phillips replied: "I know that you don't want to use the radiation treatment, that's something that you've expressed numerous amounts of times to both Doctor Lewis and myself, as well. But I'm going to have to be honest with you…if you continue on, not letting us give you any kind of treatment, your white blood cells are going to die out more quickly and your only going to get worse...no cure whatsoever."

_This cannot be happening…_

Feeling tears start to come to her eyes, Valerie took a second to wipe them away from her face before saying: "I don't' know."

A comment which caused Doctor Phillips to first close Valerie's file that lay in front of him and then reply: "Because of your recent health warning, I'm going to need your decision by tonight, Miss Malone. So if you will just excuse me for a few minutes, I'm going to go check on a couple of my other patients; giving you **two** time to think about what I just said."

Not bothering to wait for an answer, Doctor Phillips quickly stood up and made his way back out of the room. And not even a second after the door had closed shut behind him, David spoke up for the first time since they had arrived at the hospital: "Why don't you just take the treatment?"

Without even bothering to hold back the small tears that were slowly running down her face, Valerie replied: "Do you know what happens when you go under the treatment?"

After taking his silence as a no, she continued with: "You lose your hair, you lose your weight, you lose your pride and everything else that makes you who you are. I had to watch my mom lose everything she worked so hard for and I don't want to have to go through the same thing."

"They say the treatments are supposed to help you, but it didn't help her. It only made her worse. She was so sick that at the end of the day, she could barely swallow air without getting sick and I just can't go through that again. I **won't** go through that again."

Not even bothering to hold back the sob that wanted to escape her throat, Valerie covered her face with her hands—trying to mask the tears from David's view.

But after a second of doing this, she soon had to stop as David replaced her hands with his and then took the crying woman in his arms, letting her cry on his shoulder for once.

* * *

Next part soon


	8. Chapter seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

Authors Note: Sorry this is such a short chapter. Had to get this part out of the way so we could move onto the longer ones. :)

Jan 19, 2004

To say that news of Valerie's deteriorating health had changed things around the Silver household in the last week or two would be an understatement.

Since hearing Valerie confirm to Dr. Phillips that she _still_ did not want to receive any type of chemo-therapy, Valerie had noticed that David seemed to be going out of his way to make sure that Valerie's stay at his place was as comfortable and stress-free as possible.

She'd awake in the morning to fresh squeezed orange juice, followed by whatever else she felt like eating-or thought she could keep down for longer than a few minutes-and then after each meal, David would make sure that Valerie had whatever she needed for the rest of the day before retreating back to his living room to work on some new music-only to come find Valerie, what felt like a few minutes later, to make sure she was still okay and didn't need anything else at the moment.

_If I didn't know any better, I'd think aliens had come and taken over his brain...he's done a **complete **__180 since letting me come and stay with him for awhile_**_._**

With that thought in mind, Valerie turned her attention back down to the stack of papers that Angie had fed-exed her a couple of days ago; only to stop doing so a couple minutes later when a hesitant looking David appeared at the door to her bedroom; outwardly asking if he could come in.

"I guess..since this is your house and all," Valerie replied, in what was supposed to be a slight joking manner; but judging by the slight change in David's facial expression, he didn't seem to find that comment to be very funny at all.

_Tough crowd..._

As David continued to stand beside the door, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Valerie wondered if he really _was_ waiting for her to formally invite him into the room. But just as she opened her mouth to do so, David stopped her with his next words.

"That's actually what I came up here to talk to you about...I've been thinking," David began, while finally stepping into the room and taking a seat beside Valerie on her bed, "instead of going back to Buffalo, why don't you just move in with me...? Permanently."

_Permanently?_

Not really sure where all of this was coming from caused Valerie to ask this question out-loud.

"I've just been thinking with everything that's been going on with you...and your _situation_, instead of you going back to Buffalo once you're cleared to travel, why don't you just consider moving in here with me for good. I mean, like you said before, with your job, you can pretty much work from anywhere, and it's not like you don't know anyone around here. You have a doctor here, and the majority of your friends are here, as well, so I was just thinking it could be an option...that's all."

_Wow..he really __**has**__ been thinking a lot about this._

Having not expected to hear those words coming out of David's mouth when she woke up that morning caused Valerie to continue to stare at the man in front of her in shock.

_This is a whole lot to take in right now._

As if reading her thoughts and seeing that he wasn't going to get any type of answer whatsoever out of her right now, David made a move to stand up to leave; an action which caused Valerie to finally break out of her silent trance.

"I can't make any promises..but I'll _think _about it."

After nodding his head in understanding and telling Valerie that's all he asked, David turned back around and made his way back out the door; leaving a now very surprised _**and**_ very confused Valerie alone with her thoughts.

_Oy vey._

So, what do you think so far? Should she move in with him? =)


End file.
